Derealization leads to chronic stress, which then disrupts our ability to make rational decisions and follow plans.

We have all experienced the disorientation and "brain freeze" that stress triggers. It seems these symptoms of stress have become normalized in countries where the authorities keep promoting phony "economic recoveries." The disconnect between what the authorities are claiming and what people are actually experiencing is widening, and that leads to stress. No wonder more and more people are "losing it" in public as their neural circuitry melts down under the strain of synthesizing what they experience (austerity) and what they're told (official spin about the "recovery").

In Survival+ I call this process derealization as lived experience is derealized by official spin and propaganda.

Recent research is illuminating how stress disrupts the default hierarchy of the brain. In the absence of stress, the neocortex-rational-mind functions suppress the more primitive subconscious signals of aggression, hunger, sex drive, etc. in order to concentrate our effort to complete some planned activity.

This helps explain the natural "fight or flight" response we feel when suddenly confronted with danger or potential danger, but more importantly it illuminates how we lose the ability to analyze circumstances rationally when we are "stressed out." Once our rational analytic abilities are shut down, we are prone to making a series of ill-informed and rash decisions.

This has the potential to set up a destructive positive feedback loop: the more stressed out we become, the lower the quality of our decision-making, which then generates poor results that then stress us out even more, further degrading our already-impaired rational processes. This feedback loop quickly leads to "losing it completely."

In pondering human development over the past 20,000 years of the transition from hunter-gatherer groups to modern life, it seems self-evident that stress was likely to be resolved in relatively short order in the hunter-gatherer lifestyle: everyone was known to everyone else, conflicts had to be resolved simply because the group survival depended on it, and most threats could be fended off with vigilance, weapons or left behind by a few hours of fast walking.

Contrast the environment that selected for this stress/conscious self-control feedback with modern life: in the modern urban life and work environment, stress is more or less constant and our ability to resolve stressful situations is limited.

This helps explain the increasing prevalence of people "losing it" in public when they encounter a rather typical frustration such as the inability to cash a check at a credit union. Just last week I saw a middle-aged man "lose it" at our local credit union, swearing and raging against employees who were simply following CU guidelines on check cashing. As the finances of many enterprises and households comes under further stress, then self-control degrades and people are more likely to "lose it."

Though this particular article focuses on short-term stress, there is growing body of evidence that chronic stress has a number of subtle and destructive consequences. In addition to the common-sense connection between chronic stress and hypertension, there is evidence that obesity is also related to stress-caused conditions such as inadequate sleep and chronic inflammation. This makes sense as the stress hormones erode the immune system's responsiveness.

Behaviorally, stress breaks down self-control, so it is no surprise that stress leads to bingeing, addictive behavior, impluse buying, etc.--all "knock-on" effects with negative consequences.

Chronic stress permanently degrades our ability to rationally analyze and plan, and so we act irrationally or erratically, as we are no longer able to stick to a conscious plan of coherent action. With the rational mind and self-control centers permanently suppressed, we are prone to "zombie" passivity, "sleepwalking" though life. This may help explain Americans' remarkable passivity as their civil liberties are taken away and their financial insecurity increases.

Many of the features of post-traumatic stress disorder (PTSD) are visible in "everyday Americans," and an understanding of how stress erodes rational thought and self-control helps explain why.

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I have a dream that one day, the mainstream media will be de legitimized for all the false propaganda they churn out. And that they will be exposed for the lap dogs of the establishment that they are. All the big networks like CNN,MSNBC,FOX,ABC and others are corporate owned and what has happened in America is big corporations are now fully in bed with the US Government and therefore are pushed by funding to report on what the US Government wants them to report on. We used to call that Fascism. This is the megaphone that has people believing in this false recovery.

Funny, so you're saying that the Jews (owns the Media, Financials, Legal System and bought out most of Congress)are going to admit that they are doing all this for world domination? Ha, I will see it before I believe it.

my friend's aunt makes $72/hr on the internet. She has been without work for six months but last month her payment was $19183 just working on the internet for a few hours. Here's the site to read more ..... http://lazycash9.com

I think that would require a level of shame that these people don't possess. The people reporting the news have the cognitive ability of a ham sandwich. A journalism degree seems the closest thing to a degree in sales as one an get at this point. In fact, every good salesman we have at my company was a journalism major. It's actually quite funny. They don't know shit about what they're selling, but they're selling it.

I'd say it's a marketing major, not sales. A salesman wants to take your money to get his commission. Marketing doesn't get money from you - they get theirs from their corporate hack masters. Marketing just wants to convince you the corporate coolaid is cool.

I guess it dates to Ted Turner selling CNN. Before that, reality wasn't ignored as much. There were investigative reporters everywhere. We got bad news that sometimes helped to thwart the future impacts by causing awareness and allowing change.

Stress is all in the head. Everyones biggest problem is as big as the other person biggest problem.

For those who put themselves in huge debt, houses, cars and champaign dreams on beer budgets, created their own stressful clusterfuck. If you let your money manage you, instead of managing your money, then it is partially your fault. Stress needs to managed because it all falls on you.

I went on a news fast for seven days a couple of weeks ago. Including Zero Hedge. Best week I ever had. I'm gonna try and do it regular.

Interesting paragraph I saw, thumbing through 1984 again the other day, and I can't seem to get it out of my head:

In the ramifications of party doctrine she had not the faintest interest.Whenever he began to talk of the principles of Ingsoc, doublethink, the mutabilityof the past, and the denial of objective reality, and to use Newspeakwords, she became bored and confused and said that she never paid any attentionto that kind of thing. One knew that it was all rubbish, so why let oneselfbe worried by it? She knew when to cheer and when to boo, and that was allone needed. If he persisted in talking of such subjects, she had a disconcertinghabit of falling asleep. She was one of those people who can go to sleep at any hour and in any position. Talking to her, he realized how easy it was topresent an appearance of orthodoxy while having no grasp whatever of whatorthodoxy meant. In a way, the world-view of the Party imposed itself mostsuccessfully on people incapable of understanding it. They could be made to acceptthe most flagrant violations of reality, because they never fully grasped theenormity of what was demanded of them, and were not sufficiently interestedin public events to notice what was happening. By lack of understanding theyremained sane. They simply swallowed everything, and what they swalloweddid them no harm, because it left no residue behind, just as a grain of corn willpass undigested through the body of a bird.

Sorry.. I know it was long, but... "Knew when to cheer, and when to boo..." Who of us here on ZH doesn't already intrinsically know that right now?

For millions of workers, retirement has been delayed for years; others say they may never retire. Thanks to the nation's massive asset meltdown -- sagging retirement accounts, plunging property values -- an enormous swath of the population has had to redefine their life path. Older folks who assumed they'd be retired by now are struggling with the need to work long after the passion (not to mention the brain and the body) has started to fade. And the result of all this turmoil is a little-noticed but profound shift in the workforce.

When you are overtired or under intense mental or physical stress, the brain bypasses its higher, more evolved, rational, frontal executive circuits—it starts using more primitive stimulus/ response pathways.

Consequently, you respond to daily demands without thinking; you make impulsive, shortsighted decisions.

When the brain’s CEO goes “offline,” strong emotions, such as fear and anger, take over, adversely coloring your view of the world.

How the Transcendental Meditation?technique Optimizes the Brain

The stress-reducing Transcendental Meditation® technique provides the experience of “restful alertness,” which increases blood flow to the brain’s prefrontal cortex, strengthening communication between the prefrontal cortex and other areas of the brain, and develops total brain functioning.

As a result, the TM® practitioner displays stronger executive functions, with more purposeful thinking and farsighted decision-making.

When the brain’s CEO is fully “online,” the emotional response to the world is more balanced and appropriate.

Better, healthier decisions result in reduced illness, improved overall health, and longer life.

Part 2b opens with the notion that there were, during the Vietnam War, continuous attempts to instigate copies of the My Lai massacre of innocent civilians that would see the enlisted men refuse the order followed by the rescinding of the order.

I'm 64 and have lived through a number of recesssions. I'm a zerohedger and so believe that a major collapse is coming. But the bottom line is that you have to take individual control of your own life. You have to find work that is both meaningful and renumerative. Waiting for the system to save you is a fool's errand. Of course there is a social construction to our lives. But it's up to each of us to construct a meaningful life. Tune out all of the made up fantasy bullshit. It can be done.

Alex Jones does break some informative news here and there but he does nothing but promote fear, not once does he ever offer a solution to the problem or name the crooks instead of the puppets. I guess that's why they let him stay on the air...

Right there with you Carpathia. Lots of us are living off "fumes" compared with our former resources. I sometimes feel like I'm suffocating but then I try to pull back & look at the big picture. Life goes on, regardless. And yes, a monster crash is coming that Americans will have a very hard time coping with. Probably why Ruger can't keep up with gun orders.

I get this daily from my wife, who is completely convinced there is a magic formula that I do not have which is why she does not have everything that everyone else around us has. Apparently everyone around me has cash coming out both ears. Funny that all I see is debt in 90% or more of them.

I'm sure you've explained it to her, so does she just not get the "debt" issue? People are so accustomed to thinking that debt is no big deal. When my parents were growing up, debt was regarded as a negative, with the exception of a reasonable mortgage. My how things have changed, as has the definition of "reasonable".

For sure. Realistically, I think she "gets it" on some level. But is caught between the reality she sees and is told by everyone else (her circle of friends... aka Ministry of Truth) and the world she knows exists underneath (the real truth). It goes to show powerful the "dark side" is... the temptation of debt... the redefining of wants as needs... etc. Plus, I live in an area where most people are in fact much better off than us, which does make it more of a challenge.

But, one by one, things I point out come true and people who seem to have it all fall from grace in an amazing display of exploding debt! One of her friends got divorced a few years back and both her and her husband came to realize that each had something north of $50k in debt they had hidden from each other. I laughed my ass off because my wife was soooooo jealous of the things they had. Ha, ha. It was all smoke and mirrors. And I know that the majority of the people around me are the same. The bigger the paycheck - the bigger the expenses and debts in most cases. Just human nature.

Mostly, she is a kind-hearted person with a strong work ethic. When push comes to shove, she does the right things. But, is sheeple having a hard time casting off the chains. And as such, my family is then bound by those same chains. Time will test those chains I am sure, and I will be there to help release her from them and show her and my kids another way. I have been ready for a long time for a different existence myself.

For sure. Realistically, I think she "gets it" on some level. But is caught between the reality she sees and is told by everyone else (her circle of friends... aka Ministry of Truth) and the world she knows exists underneath (the real truth).

It must be a continual struggle to keep bringing her back to reality after her friends give her a good brainwashing. Keep at it, though, because a family which has a firm grounding in reality is a rare and valuable asset.

You might suggest to her to inquire about her friends' monthly debt burden when they are showing off their latest financed endorphin rushes.

Yeah - society at large really works people over. Peer groups can be even worse. It is a constant battle against obvious programming. I can see the cracks in the dam though!

FYI - I openly share this here because I know that so many people are in a similar situation. I have a friend at work in the same boat and it is fun at times to share stories, failed endeavors, new angles taken, etc. Anyhow, if anyone finds this and gets something out of it... mission accomplished.

There are lots of ways in which to sort people but this is a big one: People are either basically happy or they're not, and the ones who aren't 1) expect someone else to make them happy and 2) can't ever be satisfied. Wanting what other people have (and expecting you to go get it for her) is one example.

Under Marriage 2.0 (thanks, Cultural Marxism!), she'd do quite well. The house, the car, the kids, the savings, the retirement funds, plus a handy monthly stipend. Freed of the oppression of our friend's financial restraints and any consequences of her bad behavior, she can jump off the deep end into debt, and our friend here would get the bill.

Set a series of tests for her , if she fails them, carefully plan for a divorce. If she has assets that are not commingled with family assets, see that they somehow are, so that she cannot try to keep them out of the division. Yes, this happened to me in 2008, in 2011 I asked for a divorce, best decision of the decade for me, despite the process not being over yet.

I think it's worse. I actually do make ends meet. Yet I feel like a fucking loser because so many have gotten so much for free while I have to pay for it.

I feel like a fucking loser because I can't refi my house from 7.5% to 3% because I owe too little on it.

I feel like a fucking loser because my sons education was doubly funded by me, via taxation and via direct purchase of tuition and books.

I feel like a fucking loser because I've known since the 80's (when Congress first took notice of the Social Security funding issue and did nothing about it) that I would never see retirement as my parents have.

I feel like a fucking loser because my 401-k investments have lost money, and over the last two years the investment options have ALL been annual losers. Also, I can no longer make a loan to myself, due to plan rule changes, in order to purchase precious metals.

I feel like a fucking loser because my cash is worth less and less yet, apparently, food stamp cards seem to increase in value.

I feel like a fucking loser because I have been unemployed for prolonged periods of up to six months and had NO unemployment benefits.

I feel like a fucking loser because I didn't dip into my equity to fund an exotic vacation, an RV, new cars or other shit that so many others cheerfully displayed.

I feel like a fucking loser because for the first forty years of my life I basically didn't pay too much attention to the assholes in DC and put misguided faith in the belief that they worked on my behalf.

As for number 1, your energies are far better spent doing something that's both physically useful and productive -- like splitting wood, tending your garden, or foraging for game/mushrooms/berries etc. There is an enormous amount of practical knowledge that we have collectively lost over the past several generations about how to thrive in a low energy, constrained economic situation. Try to re-discover some of it now, before you have to depend on the results.

As for number 2 -- Duh. Turn off and kick in your TV. Do it. Now! I haven't owned one since 2000. Same for all of the iNarcissism gadgets and their internet-based erratta (here's looking at you, Facebook and Twitter) Fuck 'em - one and all.

There is a mathematical side to what is going on. There is a political side to what is going on. And so on. Then there is the human side to what is going on. CHS continues to be a favorite of mine in this regard and deserves applause for "keeping it real" (I know, here comes the Chapelle clips - LOL).

Is funny that just the other day I was talking with my kids percussion instructor (a guy who really loves what we does and is very much not materialistic) about stress and the way life has become in main stream America. He went right to the fight or flight thing. That we are being bombarded daily with stress that triggers, and ultimtely desensitizes/nuetralizes, this mechanism. The ramifications of this are profound. When he pointed out this simple (and painfully obvious) truth to me - it hit me like a lightning bolt. If CHS can reach a even a few people with articles like this, he is a hero in my book. We do have to remember that the journey as important (if not more) than the destination.

Ain't that the truth! Memories and moments matter, simplify and live life for you, your family and friends, not the Jersey Shore, Desperate Housewives or whatever way media wants us to

/edit - In the last couple years I have learned a new way to live, I call it the drama free way, if it causes drama - it gets kicked to the curb, if it causes stress its kicked to the curb, if it raises my bloodpressure or is too damn complicated or too much money for something that adds no real value to my or my families life - its kicked to the curb - less drama = life made simple

//yeah I know - there is a little drama in every life - but I try to adhere to that at any rate

most days i fell like a yo-yo with all the turmoil in the markets, banking system, military threats, global warming, twitter/facebook, big brother police state, food prices, oil, unemployment, medicare etc.

I had to stop watching CNBC. Their moronic spew was actually just pissing me off. How can they work around finance that long and not figure out the market is rising because the currency system is dead? I bet they didn't even cover this yesterday:

US Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner Arrested, Questioned and Released

As predicted, the collapse of the Satan worshipping financial mafia is accelerating. U.S. Treasury Secretary Timothy Geithner was detained for questioning by New York police on February 24th and was released after giving evidence about many high level financial criminals, according to New York police sources. “In most cases we have to slap people to get them to talk but in his case we had to slap him to shut him up,” one of the interrogators joked. Geithner has been released but is accompanied at all times by an armed deputy to make sure he does not leave the country. Former Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi of Italy is also proving to be very talkative, sources in Europe say. Berlusconi has been released. Meanwhile, meetings between White Dragon Society representatives and South Korean government officials last week in Seoul were very productive.

…is first report further on the ongoing chaos in Europe and the US before returning to the Asian negotiations. In general what has happened is that dozens of high level informants have come forth in the past weeks and detailed testimony by them is being gathered. Apart from Geithner and Berlusconi, the talking big fish include members of the Rothschild family who have come forth with startling information.

The most interesting revelation given by the Rothschilds is that Queen Victoria was actually the illegitimate daughter of Nathaniel Rothschild. That means Rothschild’s had managed to place family members at the head of the British, German and Russian empires by the time World War I started. Hitler was also a Rothschild who wanted to be crowned King of the world and who helped found Israel by chasing the Jews out of Europe. Their infiltration of the highest levels of world power continued in the post war period. So, in the big picture of things we are witnessing the collapse of the Rothschild attempt to crown themselves as monarchs of a world government with a capital in Jerusalem.

The competing attempt by George Bush Sr. and the Nazi faction to set up a 1000 year reich is also collapsing. Geithner has already told the police that both he and Obama work for Bush. The Bushes, like Geithner and others are not allowed to leave the US now.

The names of some of the many top cabalists being fingered by high level defectors will be listed at the end of this report.

In other signs of the collapsing old regime, the Greeks have clearly told the EU to put their latest bail out where the sun does not shine. Elected Prime Minister George Papandreous is expected to return to power soon and replace cabal puppet Lucas Papademos, according to Europe based CIA sources.

The Italians are also deciding they do not want to become part of the greater German empire and have begun actively preparing a return to the Lira, the sources said.

The cabalists for their part are still fighting to preserve their power and control. The latest scam they are working on involves the $6 trillion worth of 1934 gold back securities that were seized in Switzerland recently. These bonds were tied to financier and Bush/Clinton bagman Mark Rich of Glencore Commodities. The plan was to place Hillary Clinton at the head of the World Bank and have her use the World Bank to launder the bonds and give the money to the communist government in China. The Chinese, in return, were supposed to turn a blind eye to the continuing European Central Bank and Federal Reserve Board scams.

The cabalists have also tried yet again to assassinate Russia’s Vladimir Putin in an attempt to regain control of Russia in a desperate attempt to revive the insane plan to get the Russians to help start the World War 3 they feel is needed to complete their plans for world domination.

The pentagon has already told top cabalist attack dog Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu of Israel that they would shoot down any Israeli planes that tried to trigger this war by attacking Iran.

The CBS news network in the US now has also broken with the cabalists and has begun information warfare with cabalist propaganda outlets like CNN and Fox.

Doug Casey wrote an interesting piece last week titled "The Ascendance of Sociopaths in Governance". Couple such personalities with the use of anti-depressent pharmacologicals and/or alcohol, it's not difficult to see how such abominations as the NDAA come to pass. Regardless, we're long past the point of no return. Take care of your corner as best you can.

There is no cure for psychopathy. If you put them in counseling they will actually try to learn manipulation from the counselor, tell them what they want to hear, etc.

So if there is no cure, what is the solution? Well, psychos hate to be recognized as psychos! It completely eliminates any chance of successful exploitation if the populace is on to you. So clearly all the psycho politicians, banksters, and execs need to be OUTed! Immediately!

We're all numb now, some more comfortably than others, but this is right where TPTB want us. At some point a trigger event will wake everyone up like Albert Finney in "Network". I'm waiting for Chuck Henry on CH 4 to step up and do the "I'm mad as hell and I'm not going to take this anymore" speech.

I wonder of the stress/losing it reaction is consisten across the population, Do different classes (yes, rich and poor) perceive the same amount of stress.

Is stress about paying the rent the same as stress of having you millions in investments be cut in half?

I suspect the stress levels are similar, even thought the drivers of the stress are quite different; but if the stress gets higher on the masses, that's wqhen the revilution and mass civil disobedience - or violence and terrorism - start.

This article hits home for myself. My now ex GF decided to get me out of her life late last month because I didnt propose yet. I was going to pop the question next month, haha, but didnt matter to her; and I was a mess for the 1st couple of weeks. Been doing the old stay with the parents thing until I could move into my new place, and it has done wonders for me. The time spent with family has been great and allowed me for focus on myself for the 1st time in a while. Looking back, things were not good with myself and the ex for a while, hence me not popping the question; and this is probably the best thing that could happen to me. Way less, stress, back in great shape, and more benny-bucks for AuAg and Pb rather than going to "support" her, haha. Thanks to Tyler and all the members here, haven't logged in since all of this happened, but been reading and all the insanity here keeps me sane. In the immortal words of Frank Costanza "I'm back baby!"

I completely agree with "turn off the mainstream media". Most of the "news" presented on it is intended to upset us, to split us into evenly-divided red and blue camps. I think the MSM is dying, and it's a generational thing. Most of the people I notice who watch network/local news TV programs or read their local corporate-owned newspapers are over 55.

Marquetry, too. Click to enlarge. (Furniture is just one facet but I opened with this because of the gun cabinets.) With this as one's hobby, you wouldn't even have to know what the MSM is talking about anymore.

Stress is the number one killer by far. It causes most mental illnesses, hypertension, diabetes, drug use (incl using food as a drug) etc, etc. etc. Learn to meditate and see things objectively without emotionality (even though everyone around you is crazy), you will be fine. The key is to stay in the present, and leave the past and future pretty much alone. This takes time and practice. Unfortunately, most do not do this. With predictable results. The ancients knew this. We should learn it as well. Rudyard Kipling's poem "If" is a good start.